Saving KT
by NuitAngel
Summary: When the Omega Chi/KT prank has much wider reaching consequences than anyone could have imagined, will the CRU community come together to support the Kappa Tau's? Starts right where the mid-season finale finished off. Multiple POV's.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys-this is my first foray into writing fic! This is going to be a multi-chapter story. This is basically how I could see C/C's senior semester playing out. And I of course in no way own Greek, or any of the characters  
**

"_Well it could be worse," Cappie sighed. "At least our house didn't burn down like the Gamma Psi's."_

Casey gulped, hard, and managed to eek out a small noise of agreement. Her mind was absolutely spinning, and although she loved the fact that she was lying there in the strong arms of her shaggy-haired prince, she almost felt _trapped_. Like she should be up and pacing the floor or something. She was sad about Ferret, Wade, and Jeremy getting expelled of course, AND the fact that the "Three Musketeers" was clearly a thing of the past, but she couldn't get the thought out of her mind: "Oh my God, we're arsonists!"

Cappie could feel the tension reverberating from his girlfriend's body. He knew she had liked the guys a lot, but she shouldn't be getting THIS upset over it. Maybe Wade, she did know him the best, but Ferret and Jeremy? And if she was upset about the stupid "Three Musketeers" thing, she could forget it. Evan made his choice. There was no going back. At any rate, something was up, and he knew neither one of them was going to get any sleep unless she got whatever was on her chest off. He sat up and pulled her hands into his lap.

"Hey, why the glum face?" he asked.

"It just sucks and all. The guys getting expelled and everything?" Dammit. Her voice always cracked when she lied. Cappie was going to catch on. She would have to break the ZBZ oath. She would have to tell him. She had to tell SOMEONE.

"Casey, you are SUCH a bad liar," Cappie laughed. "Your voice always cracks when you lie. C'mon, give me some more credit than that!"

She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes as tight as she could, "Cappie, please, please promise me, this doesn't leave this room."

He was silent, his deep blue eyes searching her face. All of a sudden, a horrifying thought crossed his mind and settled in the pit of his stomach like a block of ice. "Oh my God, she's going to tell me she's pregnant or something," he thought.

Casey opened a leaf green eye just a crack. "C'mon Cap, promise me"

"Uhhhh.........ok," was all he could say.

Casey spat it out as fast as she could, "It's our fault the Gamma Psi house burned down."

Cappie had caught exactly zero percent of that. It was way too long to have been, "I'm pregnant", so he instantly felt relief flow through his body, but now he was intrigued. He raised one eyebrow quizzically at the skinny blonde sitting in front of him. "Um Case, if you want to tell me something, you have to say it at normal human listening speed."

She huffed. She knew he hadn't understood her. That had been the point! She pulled her hands out of his grasp and began knitting her fingers together furiously. _It's now or never, Casey._

"Ok," she breathed, "It's our fault the Gamma Psi house burned down." Almost as soon as the words had escaped her lips, she lowered her head into her hands and shook it in defeat. Cappie stared at her for a moment, and then broke out in peals of uproarious laughter. When he was finally able to get himself back together, he looked at his girlfriend, her head no longer in her hands, a look of shock and confusion plastered across her face.

"Ok Drew Barrymore," he chuckled, "You know you girls can't start fires just by thinking mean thoughts about those Gamma Psi skanks, right?"

Casey groaned and fell backwards onto the bed. Cappie followed suit and flopped himself down onto the bed beside her.

"This isn't a joke Cappie! I'm serious. Its our fault." She turned to face him, her eyes beginning to well with tears.

"Casey, this is ridiculous. Are you trying to tell me that you guys went over there with containers of kerosene, doused the place, lit a match and managed to get out of there without anyone seeing you?" he questioned. " You guys aren't ninjas are you?"

She jumped up from the bed and made a loud noise in exasperation. He wasn't taking her seriously. God, why did she even expect him to. Cappie never took _anything_ seriously.

"No, Cap, we aren't ninjas, or Drew Barrymore!" She was almost shouting now, and remembered that this was supposed to be a secret. She lowered her voice before any prying ears could get a chance to listen in. "It was an accident." She collapsed back onto the bed. He looked down at her and could she she was clearly upset, and clearly telling the truth.

"An accident. Ok, go on," he encouraged.

"Well, a couple of the girls and I decided to figure out if there had been any tampering with the Songfest votes," she began nervously, "And of course the tally sheet was in Catherine's clipboard, so we _might _have decided to sneak into the Gamma Psi house and look at the results ourselves."

"You little sneaks you!" Cappie said as he grinned at her. "Ok, I can understand you guys going over there to get to the bottom of the whole Songfest debacle. You girls were clearly robbed. You were a million times better than the Gamma Psi's, and I'm not just saying that because I have to. But how exactly does doing a B and E at the Gamma Psi house turn into arson?"

"Rebecca _might_ have left a candle burning in the house when we finished looking at the scorecards and left," Casey said as she cringed.

"A candle? Why didn't she just bring a flashlight like a normal person?" Cappie joked. He saw the look on Casey's face. She was still deadly serious.

"Oh come on Case!" He exclaimed as he sat back up and pulled her with him, "How likely do you REALLY think it is that one little candle burned down an entire 40 bedroom house?"

"I don't know," Casey replied sheepishly.

"Exactly!" he encouraged. "And how old is that place anyway? Must be at least 80 years right? I mean your house and their house were built around the same time weren't they"

"Yeah," she admitted.

"Stuff goes wrong in old houses all the time! It could have been bad wiring, or even better yet, when do you think they last cleaned out their A/C vents or dryer vent? And don't candles have some nifty safety features now anyway?" He grew more and more encouraged as he saw her nodding her head in agreement at his possible explanations.

Casey straightened her back and smoothed her hair. "No, you're probably right. Yeah. Definitely. There has to be some other explanation." Cappie always had a way of making her feel better about things.

"See, just working yourself up over nothing," Cappie said and smiled down at the girl of his dreams. "I must say, I'm quite impressed that you girls got up the gumption to pull a stunt like that. Now you're thinking like Kappa Tau's" He flashed his patented Cappie smile at her.

"Uggg I know," Casey groaned. "Maybe our houses are spending a little too much time together." She turned fully around to face him again, giggling. Cappie put his hand to his chest, feigning having taken offense.

"But we were right!" she exclaimed. "There _was _tampering with the votes. Catherine came over to tell us herself, before I mentioned her house being on fire. She ran screaming out the door after that."

Cappie tipped his head back and laughed heartily. "God Case, you are too much," he told her as he pulled her closer to him once again. "Now I think I know of something that will take our minds off of all our troubles"

"Oh, and what would that be?" Casey laughed playfully.

"This" he said as he pulled her close in a passionate kiss. Within minutes their clothes littered the floor of Cappie's bedroom and the events of the past evening became a distant memory.

*******

**Well, Chapter 1! Hope you enjoyed! I am writing a few chapters ahead, so hopefully I will be able to give daily updates, but I DO have finals next week, so we'll see.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**As promised...........Chapter 2**

_Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep_

The alarm clock was going off. Casey opened her eyes and shook her sleep-addled head. She lifted the covers off of her and sucked in a sharp breath when she realized how cold it was. Oh yeah. She didn't have any clothes on. She reached over the edge of the bed and grabbed Cappie's Kappa Tau Gamma Athletics shirt she had been wearing the night before and pulled it over her head. She looked over the sleeping Cappie and smiled. _He always sleeps through the alarm_. She let him rest like that a moment more and then shook him awake.

"Good morning sunshine," she said playfully to her still-groggy boyfriend. Sleep still clung to his eyes and his hair spiked haphazardly all over his head. At the sight of her, Cappie awoke fully as he pulled her back down next to him and snuggled into her.

"Mmmmm," he groaned. "Lets just lay here like this all day."

"No Cap, its 8:30, I have to get up and get back to ZBZ so I can shower and get ready for the day" she protested.

"8:30!" Cappie retorted, "Good God in Heaven woman! No person in their right mind would be out of bed at this hour!"

"Seriously Cap," she said as she wriggled free of him and started picking her clothes off the bedroom floor and putting them on. "I have class at 10, and its the last week before finals! I don't want to miss any reviews, and I _really_ wanted a chance to talk to Ash before we head off for the day. Plus you know how long it takes me to get ready in the morning."

Cappie sat up in bed and smiled at her, "Ah yes, the famed Casey Cartwright beauty ritual. Lest ye make haste before ye turneth into a pumpkin.........or something."

"You are ridiculous!" she laughed as she leaned over the bed to give her beau a kiss goodbye. "I'll text you after class gets out and we can meet up later, ok?"

"As long as thats a promise, m'lady" he responded.

"Its a promise" she said as she made her way out the door. Thankfully it was early enough in the morning that most of the KT's were still passed out in the living room. No standing ovation this morning.

As she strode across the wide lawn of the Zeta Beta Zeta house, she passed right under Rebecca Logan's window, a window that Evan Chambers had crept out of just 3 hours before.

Inside that room a chocolate haired Rebecca lie in her bed deep in thought. She hadn't slept at all that night. Her mind kept replaying the events of the last several hours........

_The night before_

Rebecca breathlessly closed her bedroom door behind her and leaned against it, eyes closed. All of a sudden, she could discern movement in the darkened room. She started to silently freak out a little bit until her eyes adjusted to the dark. Before her she saw the form of Evan Chambers, the sandy-haired president of Omega Chi Delta sitting on her bed. A very sad and dejected looking Evan Chambers. She moved quickly to the bed and sat next to him.

"Rain check, right?" he asked as a half smile crossed his lips. She looked intently into his eyes. Inside her head, Rebecca had a million questions buzzing around. What was he doing here? How did he get in? What.....what? All her questions were answered for her when she saw the slight glaze of tears covering his eyes. Evan was hurting, and she could see it.

"I could really use a friend right now," he admitted as he set his hand down on his thigh. Rebecca covered the hand with her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. In a moment, everything changed.

His hands were cupping her face as her drew her into one of the most urgent kisses she had ever received. She couldn't believe this was actually happening! She'd been secretly dreaming of this for a few weeks now of course, but the reality was just..........wow. The hookup during rush week the year before had been just that, a hookup. Over the past semester she'd really gotten to know Evan, care about him. In fact, he was probably the only person at CRU who totally got her. Still this moment was throwing her for a loop. As they came up for air, her dark eyes scanned his face for some explanation. When she looked into his eyes, she knew. The former light glaze of tears had turned into a full on waterfall that was threatening to break loose.

And just like that, the all powerful, the almighty Evan Chambers dissolved into gut wrenching sobs in her arms.

She had no idea what to do or what to say. She'd never been in this position before. She rarely cried herself, except when she got the news of her father's scandal last year. She had certainly never seen a _guy_ cry. She decided it was best to say nothing. She just held him while he moistened the sleeve of her shirt, holding onto her for dear life.

"Oh God," Evan managed to choke out between sobs, "I am so sorry. I'm such a mess right now. You shouldn't see me like this"

"No, really, it's ok," she said as she tucked a stray hair behind his ear. "If you need to talk, I'm here."

"God Rebecca, I really fucked up this time," he sobbed. They stayed like that. For 20 minutes, maybe more. Evan sobbing, Rebecca holding him.

Later on throughout the night, Evan pulled himself together enough to tell her everything. His newly rekindled friendship with Cappie, the Amphoras, his own perceived failure as Omega Chi president, and to the prank that ruined things for "The Three Musketeers" forever.

"But its just Cappie," Rebecca had told him. "He is the most flaky, irresponsible guy in the whole world. I don't get why you would be so upset about losing a friend like that."

"No Rebecca, you don't understand," Evan had explained, "I've known Cappie since we were like 10. He's the only friend that I have ever had that wanted to hang around me for me and not because of my parent's money. He's the only friend I have ever had where I can truly just be me."

Rebecca did understand _that_ part. Ashleigh. Ashleigh Howard was truly the only person who had never treated her different because she was a Senator's daughter, and she had been willing to give her so many more chances where no one else would. She thought for a moment what it would be like to loose that friendship. She had come very close a few weeks ago. She didn't linger on the thought long. She just hugged Evan tighter. "No, I think I do know what you mean," she whispered.

They had spent the rest of the night just talking. It had truly just been innocent. Before they knew it, the sun was threatening to rise. Rebecca looked at her clock. "Oh Jesus!" she exclaimed. "Evan, its 5:30! You have got to get out of here before the whole house wakes up!"

"I guess you're right," he agreed. "The whole 'No boys upstairs' rule and all. I'll just leave the way I came in" He strode over to Rebecca's window, opened it, and looked down. He had managed to shimmy up the old oak tree last night, he was sure he'd be able to again. Plus it was still dark enough, he wouldn't arouse suspicion. Before he left he turned around one last time. Rebecca was standing in front of him. He pulled her close and hugged her like he never wanted to let her go.

"Thank you" he said, and he genuinely meant it.

"Anyti...." Rebecca tried to respond, but as she did, Evan bent down and gave her the gentlest kiss on the lips.

"I'll call you," Evan said, one leg out the window. "We'll go on a proper date where I actually pick you up at the front door?" He smiled at his own joke.

"I'd like that," Rebecca had said. And as quickly as he was there, Evan was gone.

_Beep Beep Beep Beep_

Rebecca was jolted out of her daydream by her alarm. It was 9 AM. She had to get up and tell Ashleigh.

**Ok-so I totally fleshed out an outline today at work (tsk tsk on me LOL) and if all goes as planned, you will be having MUCH more story to look for. Hope I can keep up with it, its pretty ambitious!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was 9 AM. Casey was already showered and lounging in pajama pants and a tank top while she tried to browse her e-mail and catch up with Ashleigh at the same time.

"Case, I miss you!" Ashleigh whined. "I mean, I thought I would like having a single and everything, but it gets so lonely in here at night!"

"Aww Ash," Casey responded as she crossed the room to embrace the ZBZ president in a hug, "I promise to try to spend at least a few nights here. Its Christmas break in two weeks and then it'll be our last semester! I couldn't miss out on all the Zeta Beta fun! Besides, I've been good so far at avoiding the 'Kappa Tau black hole' " Suddenly Casey's computer dinged letting her know she had a new e-mail. She padded back over to her desk to see who it was from.

Her shoulders slumped as she read the name in the "from" field: Catherine Hale. Apparently, the ultra Type A Panhellenic president wanted to meet her for coffee. She had some "things" she wanted to discuss. "Oh no," Casey groaned as she shut the lid of her Macbook. "Catherine wants to have a little sit down later today."

Ashleigh froze. "OhmyGod Casey, she KNOWS" She breathed. "That's it! We're done for! Dead! No Club Fed for us, its a one way ticket to sharing a cell with some scary lady named Bertha" Ashleigh was panicking now. Casey could see it as her friend paced the floor of their room.

"Ash!" Casey cried, trying to get the other girl to focus. It seemed to have worked. At least she stopped pacing. "Settle down. We don't know anything for sure. Besides. One little candle? 40 bedroom house? Doesn't exactly add up, does it?"

"I guess not," Ashleigh agreed and lowered herself loudly onto her bed. "I wonder what she wants though"

"I dunno" Casey replied as she tried to guess. "Maybe she wants to talk about Songfest"

"She had better!" Ashleigh responded. "We TOTALLY should have won."

At that moment the door to Casey and Ashleigh's room flew open and in walked Rebecca.

"Um hello?" Ashleigh questioned. "Knock much?"

"I am so sorry Ash," Rebecca said clearly frazzled, "I wasn't even thinking. I just had to find you to tell you that.........um................I kissed a boy last night!"

"I hope he wasn't anyone's boyfriend," Ashleigh said as she pointedly folded her arms across her chest.

"Oh, no one's boyfriend" Rebecca said cheerfully and then added, "Well, maybe ex-boyfriend."

"God Bex just quit beating around the bush and tell me already! I don't have all day," Ashleigh said as she rolled her chocolate colored eyes.

"Well, it was, um, sort of....................Evan Chambers," Rebecca admitted hesitantly.

"What?" Casey cried. The door to their room had been opened in such a way that Casey's desk was obscured. She doubted Rebecca had even noticed her sitting there. When she heard the name Evan Chambers, she felt the bile rise in her throat.

"Oh. Hi Casey," Rebecca whirled around to face her, cheeks reddened, "I didn't even see you there."

"Rebecca, how could you!" Casey was furious, but not for the reason that she was sure Rebecca assumed she would be angry for.

"Jesus Casey! You two have been broken up for what? A year now? And he's even already DATED someone else," Rebecca defended. "You really can't expect to hold some claim over him anymore."

Casey's eyes narrowed as she stalked over to where Rebecca was standing. The two girls stood inches apart from each other, way too close for Rebecca's liking. "I just thought that you were better than that, that's all," Casey sneered.

"Wait, what?" Rebecca asked. A look of confusion was etched across her forehead. "Better than what?"

"Than associating yourself with a two-faced, backstabbing coward," Casey said in a low voice that was almost a growl. Honestly, she was a little shocked herself at the visceral reaction she had when she heard Evan's name. She hadn't realized until just then how angry she was at him. That he would just-what-go off and sacrifice her and Cappie's friendship for the stupid Omega Chi's, who didn't seem to be treating him too well lately? She stood there waiting for a response from Rebecca, who stood before her totally flabbergasted.

Ashleigh picked just this moment to thrust herself between her sorority sisters and push them apart. "Ok, wait just a minute here," Ashleigh said as she looked at both girls, clearly confused. "Did I miss something? Why is Evan a backstabbing coward?"

"Because of the shit he pulled last night," Casey snapped as she stepped back from Ashleigh.

"Oh, Huck's golf cart," Ashleigh remembered. "Calvin told me all about it when the others got back." The night before, Ashleigh's good friend and Omega Chi brother Calvin Owens had stopped by to tell her about how the Omega Chi's had planned to leave the Kappa Tau brothers high and dry after helping them pilfer the campus security officer's golf cart. The Omega Chi's had called the police on them, and the golf cart wound up falling several stories from the campus parking deck, landing on the ground in pieces. Calvin had been truly disgusted with his brothers' behavior and planned on having a _serious_ talk with Evan about it later.

"Yeah Huck's golf cart!" Casey retorted. "Do you know that Wade, Ferret, AND Jeremy got expelled?"

"Oh wow. That sucks," Ashleigh said, looking at her feet. "But wait a minute. Don't Cappie and Evan like, hate each other? I can't believe they would trust each other to pull a prank together in the first place."

"Well that's the thing Ash. I was right. They were friends again," Casey explained as she shot Rebecca a dirty look, "And that is why Evan is a two-faced backstabber. It was like old times again. Me, Cappie, and Evan. The Three Musketeers. Only Evan decided to turn on us."

Ashleigh looked at Casey again, still quite confused, "Casey, that just doesn't make sense! What about that huge fight they got into by the coffee cart?"

"Staged," said Casey as she tried to keep from cracking a smile as she remembered the incident. "You know, to throw me off the scent. At least the beginning pushing and shoving part. The giant melee that started after that.........that was more of an unintended consequence."

"Ohhhh," Ashleigh said, finally understanding. "But that sucks! Getting beat up for no reason! Why the secrecy, anyway?"

"Because of the Am......." Rebecca tried to chime in.

"Because of the whole fraternity rivalry thing," Casey said over Rebecca and shot her a "Shut-the-hell-up" look. "They were pretty sure neither one of their houses would accept their president consorting with the enemy."

"Wow," Ashleigh said, taking everything in. She stood there, deep in thought for a moment. Finally, a furrow crossed her brow. "Wow. Evan is a total jackass. You don't set up your friends like that. Especially someone you've been so close to for so long. Bex, look, clearly the guy can't be trusted. We already know he's a cheater-and now this? I'm sorry, I'm with Casey on this one." Ashleigh moved over to stand next to Casey. Both girls stood with crossed arms, staring at Rebecca, and blocking her exit.

"I don't believe you guys!" Rebecca said incredulously. Neither girl moved a muscle. Casey rolled her eyes. "Do you know that Evan spent hours bawling his eyes out to me over this?"

"Good for him," Casey muttered under her breath and looked away.

Now Rebecca was angry. She stepped forward, towards Casey. "Look, you guys just don't get it," she said.

"Enlighten me," Casey hissed back.

"You didn't grow up like Evan and I did," Rebecca spat as she stepped back.

"What, I didn't grow up a rich spoiled brat? You got that right," Casey shot back.

"No," Rebecca said, clearly hurt by Casey's last remark. "In the spotlight. Only known because of your parents." She still wasn't getting a response from either girl.

"Ugg," she fumed. "Look, when you grow up the way Evan and I did, you get used to being treated in a certain way. As someone, you know?"

"And what are we? No one?" Ashleigh chimed in.

"No, I didn't mean that!" Rebecca said, getting more and more flustered by the minute. "As like, an important person! And when all of a sudden you're NOT getting treated like an important person, its like everything you have ever known is torn away and your whole world falls apart. Plus the fact that you constantly have people around you that only pretend to care about you because of your name."

"So what does any of this have to do with what Evan did?" Casey asked, still not buying it.

"Look," Rebecca said, eyes narrowed. "Cappie has it all! A house of guys who worship him for just being him. The girl of his dreams! All Evan had was Cappie and the fact that he is president of Omega Chi. He was about to lose Cappie anyway. All he had left was his house, and if he didn't have that, he'd be nobody! He was terrified, and made an awful mistake."

"Who said he was about to lose Cappie?" Casey snorted.

"Come on Casey," Rebecca replied. "What would have ended up happening? You and Cappie, off in your romantic new relationship phase? What happens to Evan? He becomes the third wheel, tagging along behind you two."

"No," Casey shook her head. "Cappie and I talked about that. We weren't going to let that happen again."

"You might have had good intentions," Rebecca continued. "But we both know what would have ended up happening."

"Defend him all you want," Casey said as she turned away. "That still doesn't excuse what he did."

"Whatever," Rebecca huffed as she pushed past her sisters and made her way to the door. "I'm finished trying to talk to you guys anyway."

**Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 3! Thanks for all your great reviews, it really inspires me to keep going! Look for Chapter 4 tomorrow. I wonder what Catherine wants with Casey?**


	4. Chapter 4

Casey was still fuming over her argument with Rebecca earlier that morning. She had barely been able to pay attention in her Ethics class because of it. Thankfully the professor hadn't really discussed anything important. She pulled her phone out of her purse and glanced at the clock as she neared the CRU student center. It was 11:25. She had five minutes to spare before meeting with Catherine. She made her way inside. The coffee cart had been shut down for the winter and the coffee stand in the lobby opened in its place. She ordered a soy latte and took a seat at one of the tables and tried to do some studying, which she failed miserably at. She was just too nervous. One, she felt self-conscious. To the outside observer, she probably looked like the perfectly put together sorority girl, sporting a camel J-Crew cable knit turtleneck sweater, Seven jeans, and black Uggs, but that was nothing compared to how Catherine always looked. Two, she had absolutely no idea what Catherine wanted to talk about, and that scared her half to death. What if the fire really had been the ZBZ's fault, and what if Catherine really did know they broke in last night? She was snapped out of her semi-dazed state when she heard a familiar voice.

"Yoo hoo! Oh yoo hoo ZBZ......I mean, Casey," Catherine called, correcting herself, as she knew Casey hated being called ZBZ. She stood up as Catherine approached her table. She looked, just as Casey suspected, perfect. She was wearing a a ¾ sleeved gray wool Carolina Herrera dress that stopped just below the knee, black Christian Louboutin boots, and pearls, of course. She wore her light brown hair straight and long, adorned simply with a black ribbon headband. The outfit must have set her back at least three grand.

"Please, sit," Catherine gestured with one arm as she arrived at the table. "I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"Oh no," Casey replied as confidently as she could. "Only about five minutes. Plus I can use every extra minute to study for finals right?"

"Let's cut right to the chase, shall we?" Catherine said pointedly as she pulled a leather-bound planner out of her tote. "First, there is the issue of Songfest." Casey nodded her head in agreement.

"As I began to tell you last night, we did find some irregularities in the judging," she continued in a businesslike fashion. "It appears that one of the judges was a little biased. You see, the judge in question happened to be Natalie Jones' uncle. You remember Natalie? My chapter's social chair?"

"MmHm," Casey said as she nervously took a sip of her coffee.

"It's so unfortunate," Catherine went on. "I cannot believe that one of my own sisters would be dishonest enough to get a relative on the panel, much less ask him to throw the votes our way." Catherine shook her head in disgust. "Anyway, to make a long story short, after we removed the fraudulent scores from the equation, it appears that your chapter has won Songfest. The trophy should be ready for pickup by next Monday, and you will of course be awarded the full one hundred blue ribbon points. And there will be sanctions against Gamma Psi Alpha."

"I'm very sorry one of your sisters has put you in this position, Catherine," Casey said as she put her coffee cup down. In her mind she was doing a happy dance thinking, "Yeah we rock! Screw those Gamma Psi bitches!"

"That's very kind of you to say Casey," Catherine told her, putting her hand to her neck. "Anyway, moving on. The second reason I asked to meet with you today is regarding the Panhellenic Board position we discussed before."

Casey was in mid-sip of her coffee and almost choked. The Board position? She thought that was a done deal. A few days ago, Catherine had offered her the position of Vice President of Judicial Affairs, and she had turned it down to participate in Songfest with her sisters. "Yes, I remember, the VP-J position. But I didn't realize it was still vacant." Casey told her.

"It is," Catherine replied with a nod. "I'm afraid I haven't been totally honest with you Casey. I didn't have to stick my neck out at all to gain the approval of the other Board members. The were happy to have you appointed to the Board. And I shouldn't have put you in the spot of giving me an answer when your chapter was in such a precarious situation with Songfest. The truth is that you impressed me by standing up to me, Casey- and by sticking to your priorities. That's a very important quality to have in a VP-J. I was hoping you would reconsider your earlier decision and accept the position."

Casey was floored. She hadn't expected this at all when Catherine had asked to meet with her. She was honestly expecting to be taking a one-way ride in a white car with flashing blue lights. She didn't have to think about her answer at all when she replied, "Yes. I'd be thrilled to join the Board!"

"Oh wonderful!" Catherine exclaimed. "I had a feeling you'd accept. That's why I brought these." As she spoke, Catherine reached into her tote and plunked several enormously thick binders onto the table in front of her. "Panhellenic Judicial procedures. You will want to get started looking over these right away. The first binder is for Panhellenic infractions only. You know, rush infractions, sorority versus sorority disputes, things of that nature. The second involves joint disciplinary proceedings between Panhellenic and the Interfraternity Council. Chapter presidents preside over those and are reserved for things such as social policy infractions up through recognition hearings."

"Recognition hearings?" Casey asked.

"Yes. The most serious judicial proceeding we have." Catherine explained. "Those are reserved for serious risk management infractions, and the president from every chapter must be present. They are tasked with determining if the chapter in question should retain University recognition or not, and their decision is sent to Dean Bowman for approval. We haven't had to do a recognition hearing in some years, but this just may be the year, you never know."

"Wow. That sounds serious," Casey replied.

"It is. If you lose University recognition, you can no longer operate a house on Greek Row, cannot participate in any organized Greek events, and receive no assistance from the University. Most chapters that are de-recognized end up having their charter revoked by their national office. Anyway, your job as VP-J will be to moderate any and all hearings, as well as panel deliberations. You won't get to vote. Does that still sound alright to you."

"Yes, of course," Casey said, taking it all in. That seemed like a lot of responsibility, but she was sure she could handle it. So far, the conversation had gone well enough, but there was just one little thing Casey was still dying to know.

"And again, Catherine, I am so sorry about your house," Casey said, putting her hand over Catherine's.

"Why thank you Casey! How sweet," Catherine replied, genuinely thankful. "Such an awful mess! The fire marshall got in touch with our House Director this morning. Apparently the fire started in one of our dryers. They are gas powered and the vents hadn't been cleaned in God knows how long. The one that went up is quite old and some gas leaked into the vent. Since it was so close to the pilot, everything just went up! Just goes to show you how important home maintenance is. Thankfully I live in an apartment so none of my belongings were ruined, but some of my sisters lost everything."

Casey silently breathed in a huge sigh of relief. Cappie had been right all along. "How horrible! I'll have to mention it to our House Director. I have no idea if our vents have ever been cleaned, and we do have some old dryers."

"Oh yes," Catherine agreed. "I plan on making an announcement about it at the next Panhellenic meeting. Anyway, I have to get going, but it was great talking with you Casey, and I'll see you at the board meeting next Tuesday." Both girls stood up and shook hands.

"See you then," Casey called and flopped down in her chair in relief. She was getting ready to call Ashleigh with the good news when a very familiar boy rushed past her and sat across from her at her table.

"Rusty!" Casey said. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Talking to the evil Panhel president I see," the younger Cartwright observed. "Did you give her hell over the Songfest votes?"

"Actually no," Casey told her brother. "One of the judges was a Gamma Psi mole. We were the real winners the whole time."

"I knew it," Rusty said, smiling his wide smile that was recognizable from miles away. "You guys totally rocked."

"Thank you, thank you," Casey said doing a playful bow. "So how are things with you and Dale? Still bad?" Dale Kettelwell was Rusty's roommate, and they had been fighting lately.

"A lot better, since our Battle Bots competition last night," Rusty said, his dark eyes widening. He always got excited when he talked about nerdy science things.

"What in the world is a Battle Bot?" Casey asked as she shook her head in confusion. Rusty began to open his mouth in an answer when someone answered for him, a someone Casey was very happy to see.

"A Battle Bot," Cappie said as he walked over to Casey and kissed the top of her head and sat next to her, "Is a standard robot that's modified to kill another one. Am I somewhere in the ballpark here, Spitter?"

"Once again you are correct sir," Rusty said to his fraternity big brother. "Since we won't find out who won the grant until next semester, we decided to settle our differences with a Battle Bot war. I had him, but I decided to let Dale win. All he has is science, you know. I'll let him lord it over me for a while, but at least it'll make us stop fighting."

"Wow, that was very big of you Spitter," Cappie said, impressed with his little bro.

"It was Calvin's idea," Rusty admitted. "I was ready to tear Dale's robot apart."

"Omega Chi scum," Cappie muttered.

"Cappie, you know Calvin and I are friends. That's not going to change, no matter what goes on between our houses," Rusty said, giving Cappie a serious look.

"All right, all right, I'm sorry. Out of all the Omega Chis, he _is_ the least objectionable," Cappie said in surrender.

"Thank God!" Casey said finally, "I can't stand to see my two favorite guys fighting." Casey smiled at Cappie who was giving her an "aw shucks" look.

"All right, I just wanted to stop by and say hi." Rusty said as he stood, fingers curled around his backpack straps. "I have to get going. There's an open lab right now for my O-Chem final. I need to kill this test so everyone will stop calling me Anchor."

"Later Russ," Casey said as Rusty started to walk away.

"Oh hey Spitter," Cappie called after Rusty, "You coming over to the house tonight? Its Will Ferrell and cheesorito night."

"I think I have to pass Cap, way too much studying to do, but I'll try to stop by tomorrow," Rusty said over his shoulder.

"How could anyone possibly miss cheesorito night?" Cappie shook his head incredulously.

As soon as Rusty was out of sight, Casey grabbed Cappie's hands and pulled them close to her. "I have great news!" Casey said.

"Mmmmm, you will be appearing live at Gentleman's Choice for an audience of one?" Cappie asked playfully.

"Cap, gross!" Casey said as she play-punched him. "First, we didn't burn the Gamma Psi house down. It was the dryer vent, like you said."

"I should really look into a career as a crime fighter," Cappie laughed. "I'm way too good at solving mysteries!"

"And second," Casey continued, thinking how silly her boyfriend was, "Catherine offered me the VP-J position again! Oh, and we won Songfest."

"Well, yay!" Cappie said, genuinely excited for her. "You accepted, right?"

"Of course." Casey told him.

Cappie pulled her into a huge bear hug. "Thats awesome Case, I'm so happy for you," he said. "Listen, I got an e-mail from Dean Bowman after you left. He wants me to meet him in his office tonight, before my 'other' meeting."

"Like, his office in the Admin building?" Casey asked, confused.

"No, his 'other' office," Cappie said, in a wink-wink-nudge-nudge kind of way.

"Ooooohh, his _other_ office," Casey said, finally understanding. Dean Bowman was the leader of the Amphora Society, an elite secret society Cappie and Evan both belonged to. The Dean must want to meet with Cappie in the Amphora lair before the rest of the members arrived. "So, see you after then?"

"But of course," Cappie said as he leaned down and gave her a kiss. "I'll call you." After giving her one last kiss, Cappie got up and walked out of the student center. Casey hoped he was going to class, or he would never graduate.

**Well, there you go, chapter 4! Seems like everything is working out for the ZBZ girls. Thank you again for keeping all the great reviews coming! I may have to take a few days off of posting here until my semester ends on Weds, but I promise that I will be back after that. I'm actually really enjoying writing this!**


	5. Chapter 5

Cappie opened the heavy metal door that secured the secret lair of the Amphora Society. He had been shocked and honored when he was tapped into membership earlier in the semester. Their existence had only been a legend, like Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster before that moment. He and Evan had spent most of their freshman year trying to find this place. _Evan_. The thought of his former best friend sent jolts of rage throughout his body. Never had he been so hurt or betrayed by someone.

The cavernous room was empty, except for a tall figure, standing back lit by the large fire burning in the fireplace. The figure stepped forward and his face came into view. "Cappie," Dean Bowman finally spoke, "Please, take a seat." He gestured to a long, deeply polished oak table whose legs were carved in an ornate design. Cappie sat across from the Dean. He was trying to get a read from the older man, but couldn't manage to get anything out of him.

"Cappie," Dean Bowman began, "I asked you here today as a courtesy because you are a fellow Amphora."

"Ok," Cappie asked, a mixture of anticipation and dread building in his mind. "What's up?"

"What's up," Dean Bowman replied, a hard edge building in his voice, "Is that your fraternity brothers have put me in a very difficult situation."

The prank. Cappie's face fell. He knew that the expulsions wouldn't be the last he heard about it. "Dean Bowman, I'm really sorry about what happened last night, and I can promise you that it will never happen again," Cappie said sincerely.

Dean Bowman shook his head in frustration. "Before I say anything else Cappie, I am going to _assume_ that because you are a fellow Amphora, that you had nothing to do with the planning of this stunt, and were not present when it was carried out."

Cappie knew right away what his answer had to be. "No, of course not," Cappie said as he lowered his head.

"Good," Dean Bowman responded. Inwardly, the older man knew the truth, and he was finding it very difficult to tell Cappie what he had to say next. "Cappie, the Board of Trustees is absolutely up in arms over this incident. They want blood."

Cappie couldn't think of anything to say. He just hung his head in defeat. He knew wherever Dean Bowman was heading, it wouldn't be good. "But why is the Board getting so upset now?" Cappie asked.

"Because," Dean Bowman replied, growing more and more agitated, "This was not just another prank Cappie. There was destruction of University property which represented a significant financial loss, not to mention how dangerous the whole situation could have been. Your fraternity was absolutely reckless. What if a student had been walking by the parking deck and gotten crushed by the falling golf cart?"

"But my whole fraternity?" Cappie asked. "It was just three guys."

"Oh come on Cappie, you don't really expect me to buy that do you?" the Dean asked him. Cappie just shook his head. "And besides, even _if_ it was just three members, their actions still reflect on the entire fraternity."

"So what does this mean?" Cappie asked.

"Frankly Cappie, the Board is beginning to think that I cannot control the greeks any longer. Between the expose the school paper ran last year, the incident at Homecoming, and now this, my ass is on the line," Dean Bowman told him. "And just a few moments before I left to come here, I was told in not so many words that if someone is not made an example of, the Board is considering disbanding the greek system as a whole."

Now Cappie was feeling nauseous. This was going to be bad. Really bad. "So I guess that means we get to be the example, huh?" he asked glumly.

"Unfortunately, yes." Dean Bowman replied. "But I'll tell you I'm not entirely against it. Kappa Tau Gamma has been the common thread in all of these incidents. You're a bright kid Cappie. I like you. You kind of remind me of myself when I was your age, but you have to start taking more responsibility."

"So lay it on me then," Cappie said. "What's it going to be, more weeks of social probation?"

"No, I'm afraid its much more serious than that," Dean Bowman said, really not wanting to have to continue this conversation. "A formal complaint has been filed and a recognition hearing has been set for Wednesday to determine the recognition status of Kappa Tau."

Cappie's head was spinning. A recognition hearing? He remembered reading about that briefly when he took the office of president last year. In just two days, the presidents of the CRU sororities and fraternities would decide if Kappa Tau would stay or go. "Dean Bowman, please, isn't there some other way we can handle this?" Cappie pleaded.

"No, I'm sorry Cappie. My hands are tied," Dean Bowman told him. "I will say this though, and I want you to think very carefully before you give me an answer, because depending on what it is, you may be able to help yourself out. Was there anyone else that participated in this prank? Any other person or group not affiliated with Kappa Tau?"

Cappie took a deep breath. What was the Dean getting at? Did he know the Omega Chi's were involved too? And more importantly, should he sell them out? Like Dean Bowman said, it would help him out if he told the truth, but he was not going to stoop to Evan Chambers' level. "Well, since I wasn't there Dean," he began, "I couldn't say. But its my belief that no, no one else was involved."

"You sure about that Cappie?" Dean Bowman asked as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small object and set it on the table in front of Cappie. "Because the campus police found this in front of the parking deck last night."

Cappie picked the object up and studied it intently. It was an Omega Chi pledge pin. One of their pledges must have lost it in the scramble to get away from the scene of the crime before the police arrived. He closed his fist tightly around the pin and then replied, "Yes, I'm sure." At the same time, they began to hear voices outside the door. The other Amphoras were beginning to arrive.

"Fine," said Dean Bowman, clearly disappointed. "Have it your way."

Cappie couldn't concentrate at all on anything that was going on during the meeting. All he could think of were ways to get he and his brothers out of this mess. And to stare at Evan. It took every ounce of willpower to keep from jumping on him and beating him into a bloody pulp. He was very happy when Dean Bowman called an end to the meeting. The room was starting to feel suffocating and he wanted out as soon as possible. He quickly tore off his Amphora robe and started making his way to the door when he felt someone tug on his arm. He whirled around to see who it was.

"Cappie, I.................." Evan tried to say.

"Save it Chambers," Cappie growled, his hands curled into tight fists at his side. "I have nothing to say to you." He turned around, but not before he saw Evan drop his head in despair.

"Oh, and one of your pledges dropped this by the parking deck last night," Cappie spat as he tossed the pledge pin in Evan's general direction.

Evan caught it in mid-air and immediately knew what it was as soon as he brought his hand closer to his eyes. "Oh no," Evan thought. This could only mean very bad things.

**Well thanks to my awesome professor, my evil Microbiology final is now take home, which gives me more time to update you guys! I might be AWOL one or two days this week, but that's it. Stay tuned to find out the KT's fate and if Evan decides to come clean. Oh, and there might a Rebecca/Evan date and a surprise for Ashleigh in the near future.**


	6. Chapter 6

Evan had been standing in front of the Omega Chi house for a good five minutes. He just wasn't ready to go inside yet and get bombarded by his brothers. As he stood on the front porch, hot tears stung the backs of his eyes. He kept thinking back to the empty gaze and low growl Cappie had assaulted him with at the Amphora meeting. _Save it Chambers, I have nothing to say to you_. The words played over and over in his mind, and he was so full of guilt that he felt like he would explode, or scream. He thought about punching one of the walls, but he knew all that he would get out of that would be a broken hand. He had to get himself together. What would his brothers think if they saw him standing outside like a total nut-job? He took several deep breaths, blinked back the tears, and walked inside.

Once in the foyer, he noticed the two brothers he least wanted to see standing just inside.

"Evan man, what's up?" Tripp reached him first and raised his hand in a high five.

"Ah, nothing Tripp, just getting back from the library," Evan replied as he half heartedly returned the gesture. He would have liked nothing more than to punch Tripp in his pasty, red-headed face one more time. Tripp, who had been trying to usurp him at every turn. Tripp, who suddenly treated him like a piece of trash in the street when he gave up his trust fund. Tripp, who put him in the position to sell the KT's out and ruin one of the best friendships he had ever had. Apparently Tripp thought they were BFF again, and to keep the peace, Evan was going to go on letting him think that.

"Dude, how awesome was last night?" Tripp chortled. "Did you see the looks on the Krappa Tau's faces when the cops showed up?"

"Yeah, pretty awesome," Evan said, trying to sound genuine.

"So where were you last night man? I didn't see you at Dobbler's" Tripp continued.

"I ah, was hanging out with a friend," Evan replied, running his hand through his hair.

"Dude, come on, I know that look," Tripp said, giving him a knowing look. "Who's the chick."

Evan knew he wasn't going to get Tripp out of his face unless he answered. He decided to tell the truth, as he really was planning on asking Rebecca to dinner later this week. "Um, Rebecca Logan?" Evan asked in a half question, although he was sure Tripp knew who she was.

"The ZBZ chick? Former Senator Ted Logan's daughter?" Tripp asked, clearly impressed. "She's a total hottie. Is she as dirty as her dad is?"

"Wouldn't know Tripp," Evan said as he gave the other boy a look that clearly said, "Don't go there."

"Alright bro, catch you later then," Tripp said as he sauntered over to the front door. Before he exited the house, Tripp turned around and looked at him. "Oh and Evan, welcome back man."

"Thanks Tripp," Evan said, hoping desperately he had managed to hide the sarcasm that was oozing out of him.

As soon as Tripp shut the door behind him, Evan looked at the other brother waiting for attention and raised a hand as if to shoo him off. "Calvin, please, not you too," Evan begged. Calvin Owens was Evan's little brother in the fraternity and had developed the annoying habit of acting as his conscience over the past semester. No one but his mother could put him on the same guilt trips as Calvin could, and he was feeling plenty guilty already.

"I'm not here to lay into you man," Calvin said, holding his hand up in surrender, "I just wanted to make sure you got this." At that, Calvin handed Evan the manila envelope he had been holding. "Someone from IFC delivered this about an hour ago, and specifically said it needed to get to the chapter president ASAP."

Evan studied the envelope intently. He wondered what could be inside. On the front was written, "Evan Chambers-Omega Chi Delta." Since the envelope's contents weren't giving up their secrets via osmosis, Evan carefully opened the envelope and read through the papers it contained. Evan must have read the words five or six times before it finally sank in. "Fuck!" he screamed and brought his hands to his head like he was going to rip his own hair out. He blindly made his way into the empty living room and launched himself onto one of the large leather wing-back chairs. Calvin followed.

"Calvin did you read this?" Evan asked, face reddened with a mixture of embarrassment and rage.

"No, it had your name on it," Calvin replied. "I'm not one to go through someone else's mail."

"Of course it had to be you that they delivered this to," Evan cackled in defeat.

"Well you might as well just come out with it," Calvin said, getting frustrated.

"They've called a recognition hearing against Kappa Tau. They're going to kick them off campus," Evan said in disbelief.

"Oh," Calvin said as he looked down at his feet. He knew what that meant, and he knew that Evan would be one of the panel members that would decide the KT's fate. "Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to admit we were involved?"

"Hell no," Evan retorted. "If they're thinking of de-recognizing the KT's because of this, don't you think they won't do the same thing to us? I'll be damned before I become known as the president who let Omega Chi get shut down." Calvin didn't say anything, but Evan could see the look of disappointment and disgust building on his face.

"No," Evan said in defense, "I'm just going to have to go in there and persuade the panel to let the Kappa Tau's stay. I'll have to go to bat for them."

"What happened to you man?" Calvin asked. His words sliced Evan right to the bone.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked.

"You're not the same guy you were when I joined. You were happy. Confident." Calvin began. "At first I thought that you were just getting corrupted by your trust fund, but after you gave that up.............I don't know. Its like you've become this insecure shell of who you once were. The Evan Chambers I know would have never let Tripp and those assholes walk all over him like this."

Uh-oh. There were those tears again. "You know what Calvin, you're right," Evan said, dejected. "I let this get way out of hand, but it ends here. Right now." Evan could see Calvin wasn't buying it.

"Come on Evan, talk to me," Calvin said, inching closer to him.

"I guess I've always been kind of insecure," Evan admitted. "The money was like a security blanket, you know? Like if I had nothing else at least had that to fall back on. I know I didn't like who I was with the money, but now without it, I've been doubting myself. But I swear, that ends right now."

Calvin seemed satisfied with that answer. "So Rebecca Logan huh?" Calvin asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Evan replied rubbing the back of his neck. "Crazy, isn't it?"

"Evan, before you let yourself get too carried away here, I really think you need to ask yourself if you're getting involved with her for the right reasons," Calvin said.

"What do you mean by that?" Evan asked, although he clearly already knew where Calvin was going with this.

"Just make sure you aren't getting involved with her to make another certain someone jealous. It isn't fair to you or to Rebecca," Calvin said, giving Evan a very serious look.

"What, you mean Casey?" Evan questioned defiantly. Calvin just looked at him with the same serious expression he'd worn all night. "Ok, the truth is that after last night, I knew I couldn't come back here. I was just way too ashamed of myself to pretend to whoop it up with the rest of the guys. She was the only person I even thought of going to. Do you know she has never judged me, even once? Most other girls are just interested in my because of my name. Not Rebecca. And she just _gets_ me like no one else. Not even Casey. And besides, nothing even really happened. We stayed up all night talking."

Calvin nodded his head in agreement as he watched his big brother brighten a little as he talked about Rebecca. "Sounds like you really like her, man," Calvin said finally.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Evan replied, a little shocked himself by this admission.

At that, Calvin stood up to go back to his room. "Evan please do me one favor," Calvin said.

"Sure," Evan replied.

"Just don't let these assholes make you forget who you are," Calvin said as he turned to walk away.

"Thanks Calvin," Evan said, a small smile playing on his lips. Inside, he couldn't help but think that he didn't deserve a friend as good as Calvin.

**Phew sorry no update last night guys! Microbiology final and lab reports to finish. But all done now YAY! That means I have 3 whole weeks to devote to this story! So, seems like I'm writing a lot of Evan. Please let me know what you guys think. I'm kind of suprised by this, but his character is just really fascinating to me. There's definitely more than meets the eye. Don't worry though, you'll get another dose of C/C in the next chapter, although it might not be as cute. Sorry, LOL! **


	7. Chapter 7

Casey had been blowing up Cappie's phone starting five minutes from the time he left the Amphora lair until now. From her texts, he could surmise that Casey already knew all about the hearing. All Cappie could manage to reply was, "Talk 2 U about it later." When Cappie returned from his meeting, he found his own manila envelope had been carefully slipped under his door. He had been sitting alone here in his bedroom for two hours now. He could hear the peals of his brothers' laughter echoing up the stairs as they watched Step Brothers. He couldn't bear to go down there. Not yet.

He actually wasn't that upset about it. Pissed as hell? Yeah, but not upset. The walk home had helped him clear his head. This really wasn't the end of the world, right? He had figured the worst that could happen is that they would be de-recognized. That didn't mean they would have to stop being a fraternity. They could go underground. Yes, they would lose their house, but they could always rent a new one off campus. And while they wouldn't get the University's help for rush, they didn't really need it. Karmic synergy and all? And if they lost their national KT charter, they could go local. Even better. No rules. No rules whatsoever. No University rules, no nationals breathing down their neck-it might actually be kind of sweet. In his heart of hearts though, he really didn't think they were going to be kicked off campus. Maybe he could sweet talk the panel into voting their way. Even if that failed though, Dean Bowman had the final word, and he couldn't in good conscience decide to kick the KT's off when he knew there was another group involved. And there was one thing the Dean had said that had given Cappie the inkling that now was not Kappa Tau's time to go. Plus there was always Evan. He might actually do the right thing and come clean, although Cappie wasn't holding his breath on that one.

No, the reason Cappie was still up here was that he knew he had to break this news to the rest of the brothers. With most of them, he could spin it any way he wanted and they would follow him blindly. He loved all the guys, but some of them weren't the brightest bulbs in the box. He was worried about Rusty. He had managed to get Rusty to the house by calling an emergency meeting. Rusty was the one live wire. He was smart, way too smart for his own good and definitely not afraid of disagreeing with Cappie publicly or otherwise. Most of the time it was actually pretty refreshing. Tonight it was terrifying. He needed to get everyone on the same page, and with Rusty here, he knew that wouldn't be easy. He couldn't just sit up here all night though, and finally made his way downstairs to the living room.

Cappie perched himself on a high backed bar chair and rapped his gavel several times on the chair's arm. "More crickets Cap?" Ben Bennett asked.

"No, I think we got all those taken care of, its time for our emergency meeting," Cappie said. "Could someone turn the TV off?" Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a tall, well built blond boy sitting on the couch and pouting.

"But its 'Boats and Ho's' Cap. This is the best part," Beaver protested.

"Um, its a DVD Beave," Cappie told him, "I'm pretty sure you can rewind it and watch it again."

"Oh yeah," Beaver said with a smile as he got up to turn the TV off.

"So what's the big emergency," Rusty asked from the back of the room. "I've been here for an hour. My O-Chem final isn't going to study for itself."

"Cool your jets Spitter, cool your jets," Cappie responded. "I'm going to try to make this as quick as possible." He paused for a moment, searching for the right words to begin.

"Well guys, I'm sorry to say that last night's shenanigans got the attention of Dean Bowman," Cappie began as a loud groan erupted from the room.

"Oh no, more social probation?" Gonzo asked.

"No, its a lot worse than that," Cappie said as he cringed. The room had become so silent you could hear a pin drop. "We've been called up to the All Greek Judicial Board for a recognition hearing."

All he got out of that were a lot of blank stares. Why did he expect his brothers to know what a recognition hearing was? "Basically what happens is that I go in front of all the sorority and fraternity presidents and convince them that we should still be recognized by the University," he told them.

"Huh?" Beaver asked, looking very confused.

Before Cappie could answer, Rusty had done it for him. "It means they're going to vote whether or not to kick us off campus," Rusty said, a look of sheer horror crossing his face.

"Dude," Beaver said, his eyes widening. "Its like our own version of 'Old School'. I'll be Will Ferrell, and Cap, you can be Owen Wilson."

"I believe that was Luke Wilson in 'Old School', there Beave," Cappie corrected him, "Although I've always fancied myself more of a Jeremy Piven kind of guy." All of his brothers were now giving him a shocked stare.

"No, no, no," Cappie said, "Jeremy Piven circa 'PCU', not 'Old School'" Now all the Kappa Tau's were nodding in approval.

"Anyway, I'm sorry Beave," Cappie continued, "This is going to be way more serious than 'Old School", and way less funny. Although I _would_ pay money to see you dressed in a leotard trailing a ribbon attached to a wand behind you."

"What are we going to do, Cappie?" Rusty asked. Always the tough questions with this one.

"Well, I'm just going to have to go in there on Wednesday and use my superb oratory skills to convince them to keep us around, Spitter," Cappie said.

"Are you going to tell them about the Omega Chi's?" Rusty asked pointedly. God this kid had a gift.

"No," Cappie said as his brothers gasps resounded through the room.

"Why not?" Rusty asked, his eyes narrowed, arms folded across his chest.

"Spitter, I am _not_ going to sink to Evan Chambers' level," Cappie said, giving Rusty a hard stare.

Now Rusty was furious, he stood up from the couch, his face reddening and his hands curling into fists. "This isn't fair Cappie," he cried. "This isn't just about you and Evan's stupid rivalry anymore. This is about the whole house."

"Don't you think I know that Rusty?" Cappie answered sternly. "What good do you think it will do ratting out the Omega Chi's anyway?" He was about to lie to his whole brotherhood, and he hated it, but he had to make them understand they could win without being snitches.

"I don't know," Rusty said, totally flustered, "Maybe if we cooperate, they'll give us a more lenient sentence."

"This isn't Law and Order Spitter," Cappie responded. "We aren't dealing with Jack McCoy here. This is the Greek Judicial Board. Plus we have no proof, and do you think that the Omega Chi's are going to corroborate our story? Then not only are we vandals, we're liars too! How good do you think _that _is going to go over?" There, he'd done it. He'd lied, but at least it quieted Rusty down.

"Well what _are_ we going to do, Cap?" Beaver asked meekly.

"I'm just going to have to go in there and charm the pants off of that board," Cappie said. The despondent stares he was getting back were not reassuring him. "Look guys, we can win this. Casey is running the hearing for Panhel, and you guys know she'll help us out." As soon as the words had come out of his mouth, the brothers began to brighten.

"And if we lose?" Rusty asked.

"Then we go underground. And if nationals takes away our charter we go local. Yeah we'll lose this house, but we'll find another one, or we'll all rent apartments together next year. Think about it guys. No rules. No rules at all. Could be pretty sweet, right?" Cappie asked. Now his brothers were nodding, even Rusty.

"Are you guys with me?" Cappie asked.

"Well, you've never led us astray before," Rusty said, clearly looking more calm. "We're with you Cap."

"All right then," Cappie said with a smile as he got up out of the chair. "Meeting adjourned. Back to 'Boats and Ho's'." As he turned to walk out of the living room, he heard the movie start back up. That had gone far better than he expected. He began to make his way up the stairs when the front door opened and in rushed Casey. She looked absolutely panicked.

She ran up to him and waved some papers in his face. "What the hell Cap?" she asked, gesturing to the papers.

"Let's talk about it upstairs," Cappie said as he grabbed her elbow to lead her up to his bedroom. Once they were inside, he shut the door and sat down on his bed. Casey took a seat beside him and looked into his eyes.

"I take it you already know?" Cappie asked her.

"Of course I do," Casey said, a mixture of pity, anger, and confusion in her voice. "I _am_ Panhellenic Vice President of Judicial Affairs."

She grabbed one of Cappie's hands and continued, "Cap, why didn't you call me? I've been waiting since I found out about this three hours ago."

"Sorry Case," Cappie apologized, his deep blue eyes gazing into hers. "I've been sitting up here since I got home trying to think of a way to break it to the guys."

"Did you?" she asked.

"Yeah, but Rusty sure didn't make it easy," Cappie told her. "I really need everyone on the same page, and you know how Rusty is."

Casey nodded. "Yeah, always asking questions," she chuckled. "But he means well."

"I know," said Cappie. "Listen, Case, I really need........."

"You really need my help," Casey answered for him. "Cap, I know, but I don't know how much I can help you. I don't get a say in the vote."

"That's ok," Cappie said, running his hand through her hair. "You get to run the show right? And the deliberations? You're kind of like the Judge Judy of Panhel."

"Ugg, but I'm not so awful looking though," Casey said as she smiled. "Cap, I will try my best to do everything I can for you guys, but I can't be too obvious about it."

"I know," Cappie told her.

Casey nervously looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. "Cap, I really think you need to think about turning the Omega Chi's in," she told him.

"No, no way," Cappie said, furiously shaking his head. "Besides, Dean Bowman already knows."

"What?" Casey asked, totally taken aback. "How?"

"One of the Omega Chi pledges dropped his pledge pin outside the parking deck. Campus police found it," Cappie explained. "That's what he wanted to talk to me about before the Amphora meeting."

"But this doesn't make sense Cappie," Casey said, racking her brain. "If Dean Bowman knows, and has proof, why haven't the Omega Chi's been called up too?"

"Because I denied it and gave the pledge pin back to Evan," Cappie said, waiting to get a verbal beating from his girlfriend.

"Oh my God Cappie," Casey said, shocked. "Are you on drugs or something?"

"No, I am going to win this thing without sinking to Evan's level," Cappie insisted.

"And if you don't?" Casey asked him. "What then?"

"We get a new house and go underground," he said matter-of-factly.

"And how do you expect to finance that?" Casey asked, her voice starting to rise. "Don't your alumni help you guys out with a lot of your expenses here? Do you think the money will keep rolling in if you guys go underground? And what if you lose your charter? Then you'll have no alumni at all!"

Those words shook Cappie to the core. She had a real point there. He started to feel dizzy, but then remembered what he had reminded himself of before. "Case, even if we lose the hearing, Dean Bowman still has the last word," he told her, staring into her eyes.

"Cappie, he hates the greeks. He'd like nothing more than to get rid of us all!" she said, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Good point," Cappie said, nodding. "He may be a total douche, but he's a fair guy Case. I just don't believe that we would kick us off knowing what he knows. Plus he said he liked me tonight."

"He sexually harassed you?" Casey asked, trying not to laugh.

"Eww, no," Cappie dismissed. "As in, you remind me of myself when I was your age?"

"Oh," Casey nodded her head. "You're really sure about this, aren't you?"

"Call it a sixth sense, or karmic synergy, or what have you," Cappie said, putting his arm around Casey, "But I just don't think its our time yet."

"Alright Cap," Casey finally said in agreement, "I know there's always a method to your madness."

"Thanks Case," Cappie whispered, pulling her close to him. "Your support really means a lot."

"You know you didn't even have to ask me for help Cap," Casey said. "I'd help you no matter what."

Cappie's eyes began misting with tears as he caressed her cheek. She returned the gesture by snuggling her face into his hand. "How did I get so lucky?" he mused.

"I don't know," Casey giggled. "Momentary lapse in sanity on my part?"

Cappie's eyes widened. "Oh that's it! You're going to get it woman!" Cappie yelled playfully as he tackled her onto the bed and began tickling Casey so hard that she almost wet herself. The next thing Casey knew the tickling stopped and Cappie's kisses rained down on her. _Hearing, schmearing_, she thought as she melted into his embrace.

Four hours later, Casey's eyelids flew open like window shades. She looked up into the peacefully sleeping face of the love of her life. _I hope you know what you're doing Cap_, she thought.

**So Cap seems pretty sure all will be well. I wonder if he's right? As always, I totally appreciate your guys reviews. I'll keep writing if you keep reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

It was Tuesday. The hearing was tomorrow. Casey hadn't been able to concentrate on anything else but coming up with strategies for helping the KT's without looking too suspicious about it. She could not believe this was happening right now of all times. She _should_ be studying for finals. She _should_ be able to enjoy the last few moments of her second to last semester at CRU without drama. But she was with Cappie. She had to learn to accept drama, and sometimes that drove her crazy. She went through a lot of soul searching before she laid it on the line to Cappie at the end of the world party. With Max, she had security. Max was a stable guy with a bright future that she knew would be able to take care of her. With Cappie, she had passion, and that senseless, running to meet each other in the street in the pouring rain kind of love. She had chosen passion. And while she loved that about Cappie more than anything, it got on her last nerve sometimes. He had definitely done a lot of growing up over the past few years, but he still had way more to do. Maybe having to deal with the consequences of this latest incident would speed up the process.

Cappie had called her earlier in the afternoon to let her know he thought it was best that he hang out at the house with the brothers tonight, in a show of solidarity. That had made a lot of sense to Casey, and she had decided instead to head to Dobbler's with Ashleigh. She would call Cappie later on and would probably end up spending the night there. Even though he was somewhat immature, her stomach still did flip-flops every time she thought of him. It had always been Cappie, and it would always be Cappie.

"Case," Ashleigh waved her hand in her friend's face, snapping her out of her daydream. "Helloooo? Anyone in there?" Suddenly the chaotic scene that was Dobbler's tonight zoomed back into view. It was packed. You could barely hear yourself think it was so loud. Casey and Ashleigh had been lucky to get a table. They had spent the first half hour there doing what they called "table scavenging." They would carefully observe all the patrons sitting at tables, and if someone looked like they were going to get up soon, they casually hung out by the table and snapped it up as soon as the previous occupants' butts left the seats, whether the table had been bussed or not. Dobbler's was definitely the bar to see and to be seen at CRU, and was always this crowded the week before finals.

"Sorry Ash," Casey replied as she casually played with the cocktail straw floating in her amaretto sour. Ashleigh had been shocked when Casey ordered it instead of her normal lemon drop. "I was a million miles away."

"I could tell," Ashleigh giggled as she sipped on her cosmopolitan. "So what are you thinking about?"

"Cappie," Casey said sheepishly.

"No, no boys tonight," Ashleigh said as she grabbed Casey's arm and shook it. "We agreed! Cappie is off in KT land and Fisher is at his film club meeting, its girls only tonight!"

"I thought that you had started going to some screenings with him though," Casey said.

"Ugg," Ashleigh groaned and slumped down in her seat. "I did a couple of times. After I had to sit through Apocalypse Now, that was it for me."

"What's wrong with Apocalypse Now?" Casey asked nonchalantly.

"Um, Case, have you ever seen that movie?" Ashleigh asked.

"Umm......parts of it?" Casey giggled. "Ok, so all I've seen is the part where all you see is Marlon Brando's face saying, 'The horror, the horror.'"

"Yeah," Ashleigh replied, "And it only gets weirder. You know, I don't even think Fisher understands it. He failed miserably at trying to explain it to me, and he's usually really good at that. No, after that we decided that I'd stick to Clueless and he could keep watching his film nerd movies with his film nerd friends." At that, the two girls melted into giggles.

"Hmm," Ashleigh said as she composed herself. "I'm kind of glad the boys are going their own thing tonight though. Its good to spend time just the two of us, Case."

"Yeah, it really is," Casey said, smiling. "We need to make the most of these moments while we still can."

"Yay for us!" Ashleigh replied brightly as she downed the rest of her cosmo. "I'm going to the bar to get another. You want?"

"I think I'm good for now," Casey said as she watched Ashleigh bounce happily over to the bar. She began to scan the room for familiar faces when she finally saw something that made her recoil in shock and horror. There was Fisher, sitting in a secluded corner booth, with his tongue jammed down some brunette's throat. Just as soon as she had seen this, a throng of humanity obscured her view. She was speechless. She had no idea what to do. Should she go over there and chew him out? Should she tell Ashleigh, or should she just grab her and run out of the bar as quickly as possible? She had made the mistake of hiding Fisher's transgressions from Ashleigh once, and it hadn't ended well. As much as it would kill her, Casey would have to tell her.

Ashleigh merrily squeezed through the crowd sipping a fresh cosmo and sat down at the table. She immediately noticed Casey's pained expression. "Case, you look like you've just seen a ghost," Ashleigh said, a look of concern washing over her.

All Casey could do was point in Fisher's general direction. "Ash, over there," Casey said and looked away, not wanting to watch her best friend's heart get ripped into pieces.

Ashleigh's eyes followed the tip of Casey's finger. "What, fauxhawk guy?" Ashleigh asked, her mood lightening. "It is truly tragic that that poor boy seems to have gotten his hairstyle from five years ago, but it's not the end of the world."

"No Ash, corner booth," Casey whispered. When she finally saw what Casey was talking about, Ashleigh's face fell and hot tears filled her eyes. Casey expected to have to carry Ashleigh out of the bar in hysterics, but instead she saw Ashleigh's face transform into a hard mask. Ashleigh stood up as straight as she could as she began to walk away from the table.

"Ash, wait," Casey called after her.

Ashleigh whirled around and held up her hand. "No Casey, let me handle this," her voice had become so sharp it could probably cut stone. Ashleigh began to make her way over to the corner booth, more and more rage building inside her with every step she took. She felt like it was taking forever to get across the bar, and it really almost was, as she was having to navigate through the thick crowd. She wanted to just shove everyone out of her way, but that wouldn't be very nice. None of these people had done anything to her.

By the time she had gotten to the table, Fisher was gone, having gotten up to go to the bar. Ashleigh stood in front of the table, surveying the other girl. Suddenly it dawned on her. It was the same girl she saw Fisher looking suspiciously cozy with after Songfest. God she was such a moron! She should have never taken Fisher back after he kissed Rebecca. She had broken one of her cardinal rules for him, and now he was making her look like a fool.

"AhHem," Ashleigh cleared her throat loudly. That caught the attention of the other girl, who looked up at her, annoyed.

"Can I help you?" she asked in an irritated tone.

"I couldn't help but see you over here with Fisher Grant," Ashleigh said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"And why is that any of your business?" the girl asked, becoming openly hostile.

Ashleigh wanted to reach over, grab the girl's neck and throttle her, but she had never been one for violence. "Well when I see some skank over here kissing my boyfriend, I _make_ it my business," Ashleigh answered, returning the girl's hostility.

"You must be mistaken," the girl snorted. "Fisher is _my_ boyfriend. We've been together for two months." Ashleigh felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. _Two months?_ He had been messing around on her for two months and she had been none the wiser? She felt like a total ass, and felt the tears stinging her eyes. _No Ashleigh, you are not going to start crying right here in the middle of Dobbler's_.

She blinked back the tears to issue one final retort, "Well you had better be careful then, because we've been together for four. Looks like Fisher has a lot of girlfriends." The girl's face contorted in humiliation and rage. At least Ashleigh had gotten some satisfaction over that. She turned around to walk away when she noticed who had been standing behind her. King Douchebag himself.

"Ashleigh," Fisher stammered, totally aghast. He knew he had been caught red handed. Before he could say anything else, Ashleigh grabbed the vodka tonic out of his hand and in one quick motion threw the liquid in his face.

"Have a nice life," she spat as she quickly made her way to the door. Tears were falling down her cheeks now and she just had to get out of there. Casey had watched the whole scene unfold from their table. When Ashleigh went flying by her, Casey quickly slammed a few bills on the table as a tip, grabbed her coat and purse and hurried out the door after her.

"Ash," Casey called. "Ash wait up." Ashleigh stopped and Casey jogged to catch up with her. When Ashleigh turned around to face her, Casey immediately saw the huge tears rolling down Ashleigh's face.

"Oh Ash," Casey said as she enfolded her best friend in a tight embrace. "I am so sorry."

"C-c-casey?" Ashleigh managed to get out, "P-p-please don't leave me alone tonight."

"No, no of course not," Casey reassured her as she patted Ashleigh's back.

When they got back to the ZBZ house, Ashleigh headed for their bedroom immediately with Casey following close behind her. As soon as they were inside, Ashleigh flopped heavily onto her bed like a sack of potatoes and started sobbing harder than ever.

"Ash, just one minute, ok?" Casey asked her. "I have to let Cappie know I won't be over tonight." All Ashleigh could manage to do was give a pitiful nod as she pulled a pink and yellow ZBZ throw over herself and curled into a tight ball.

Cappie picked up on the second ring. "Hey there pretty lady," he joked. "Where have you been all my life." Then he heard the sick, racking sobs coming from the background of wherever his girlfriend was.

"Um, is someone crying over there?" Cappie asked her.

"Its Ash," Casey explained. "She caught Fisher at Dobbler's playing tonsil hockey with some whore."

"What a dick!" Cappie replied.

"You can say that again," Casey said. "Cap, please don't be upset, but I don't think I'll make it over there tonight. Ashleigh really needs me."

"No, no, I totally understand," Cappie reassured her. "I'll be lonely here without you though."

Casey smiled into her phone. He was just the best. "Well, goodnight Cap. Get ready to kick some major greek butt tomorrow," Casey said.

"You mean _kiss_ some major greek butt," Cappie chortled. He heard her laugh in response. "God Case, I love you so much."

Casey was taken aback. Leave it to Cappie to tell her he loved her for the first time in this new relationship over the phone. No matter, she had been waiting months-no-_years_ to hear those words from him again. "I love you too, Cap," she whispered. "Night."

"Sleep tight, sweet girl," Cappie said as he hung up the phone.

Casey lingered in the doorway of the room for a moment before she opened the door to go downstairs. She knew just the thing to cheer Ashleigh up. "Be right back, Ash," she called. She made her way down into the darkness of the kitchen and reached back into the bowels of the freezer. Finally her hand closed around the object she wanted. She was honestly surprised it was still there. Before she went back upstairs, Casey grabbed a spoon from one of the drawers.

When Ashleigh heard their bedroom door creak open again, she peered out from under her cocoon of blankets, her eyes red and swollen from crying. When she saw the container of Cherry Garcia Casey was holding, she couldn't help but smile.

"I saved this for an emergency," Casey smiled, "And well, this sure seems like an emergency." She handed the frosty treat and spoon over to Ashleigh while she fumbled around in one of her drawers.

"Ah-ha!" she cried as she found the DVD she was looking for and popped it into their TV's DVD player. This one _always _made Ashleigh happy. As the opening credits of "The Sound of Music" came on the screen, Casey crawled into bed with Ashleigh and cuddled up close to her.

"Casey," Ashleigh said with a sniffle, "You are the best friend ever."

**Well, I hope you enjoyed. One more day until the hearing! And don't worry, I'm not leaving Ash all high and dry ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

Casey nervously got into the elevator in the CRU student center and hit 4. The fourth floor was where all the student activities offices were, and it was also where the Office of Greek Life and the Panhellenic/IFC meeting room was. This was it. It was 4:30 now, and the hearing would start at 5:00. Casey had gotten a horrible night's sleep last night, as she had been up almost all night with Ashleigh. Ash hadn't managed to get out of her bed all day. In fact, she was still in her pajamas when Casey left. She hated doing it, but she had to kick Ash's butt into gear. She was ZBZ president and would be required at tonight's meeting. Plus Casey really, really needed Ashleigh on her side to go to bat for the KT's. Casey couldn't openly lobby for them, but Ashleigh could.

The elevator door dinged as it opened on the fourth floor. Casey stepped out and made her way down the long hallway, the heels of her Kenneth Cole pumps clicking against the hard linoleum. She pried open the heavy wooden door that led into the room where the hearing would take place.

It was a large room conference room, definitely big enough to hold all ten sorority and fourteen fraternity presidents, which included Cappie. There was a long wooden table with a podium in the center that she assumed would be for her and her IFC counterpart, whom she had yet to meet. At forty five degree angles to the long table, there were rows of chairs set up. Ten on one side and fourteen on the other. "Nothing like boys on one side and girls on the other," Casey thought as she laughed inwardly to herself and set her tote bag down on the large table. Not a moment later, she heard the heavy door creak open and closed.

"Casey," Catherine said as Casey turned to face her. "Thanks for coming so early." Catherine reached out to shake Casey's hand. Catherine again looked perfect in her black Armani suit. Under the jacket, she wore a bright red shell, and of course, pearls.

"Not a problem," Casey said as she smiled nervously.

Catherine's face was now set in a very serious expression, more serious than normal. Casey didn't think that was even possible. "Casey, I'm afraid we might have a problem here," Catherine said, her voice matching her expression

"Problem?" Casey asked, growing more and more uneasy. "What sort of problem?"

"Casey, I'm going to be very frank with you, and in return, I would appreciate your honesty," Catherine said. Casey nodded. She did _not _like where this conversation was going.

"I'm sure that you know this is a very, very serious matter," Catherine began. "What happens here today will determine the fate of one of our chapters, and quite possibly the entire greek system. We cannot afford to make any missteps here."

"Of course not," Casey agreed.

"Casey, it has come to my attention that you might have a personal relationship with the president of Kappa Tau," Catherine said, her eyes affixed to Casey's. "Is this true?"

Casey thought that her heart might have stopped beating for a moment. She felt all the blood run out of her face. What should she say? She really thought about lying for a minute, but then decided against it. Lying had never had anything but disastrous consequences for her in the past. "Yes," she finally admitted. "Cappie and I have been dating for about two weeks now, but we have known each other very well since freshman year." She was not going to rehash all the drama that has transpired in Casey/Cappieville over the last few years. The simpler, the better, she thought.

"Well I want to thank you for your honesty," said Catherine in a genuine tone. "I'm sure you will understand then why I can't allow you to preside over this hearing today." Now the bottom had fallen out of Casey's stomach. Well what were the KT's going to do now? She had to try to salvage this somehow.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong Catherine," Casey started cautiously, "But I was under the impression that I won't get a vote in any of these proceedings."

"Yes, that's true," Catherine answered, "But you _do_ determine the entire flow of the hearing, and direct the sorority deliberations. We cannot have _any_ illusions of impropriety here. I would of course like you to stay and observe to get a feel for what future hearings might be like, but I can't allow you to act in your official VP-J capacity tonight. I'm sorry."

"I understand," Casey replied, totally dejected. She felt as if a black hole were forming under her feet, getting ready to swallow her up. "Where do you want me then?"

"Why don't you take the second chair from the right of the podium," Catherine gestured to one of the chairs in front of the row of ten. "Since I will be acting VP-J tonight, I will sit beside you."

Casey almost burst out in maniacal laughter. Well, Catherine was running the show tonight. The KT's were screwed. All her hope now lie on Ashleigh's shoulders.

Fifteen minutes had passed and Casey made up some story about having to go to the bathroom so that she could hopefully get both Ashleigh and Cappie alone before the hearing started. Thankfully, she saw them get off the elevator together. She scrambled over to them, grabbed each one by the hand and dragged them into the alcove next to the restrooms.

"Whoa there tiger," Ashleigh said as she wriggled free from Casey's grasp. "What's got your panties in a twist?"

She scanned both of their faces before she began. Ashleigh and Cappie looked at each other, knowing something was up, and whatever it was, it wasn't good. "Catherine pulled me off the panel tonight," Casey blurted. Ashleigh's eyes widened and her mouth formed a small o in shock.

"She pulled you off? Why?" Cappie asked in disbelief.

"Somehow she found out you and I are together," Casey told him, "And now _she_ is going to be acting as VP-J tonight."

"Oh my God, I think I'm going to throw up," Cappie said, holding his stomach. She had to admit, even though this was a crisis, Cappie looked very handsome in a jacket and tie.

Casey grabbed his shoulders. "Cap, you have got to pull yourself together. You can still do this. I know you can," Casey said, staring into his eyes.

Next she moved to Ashleigh. "Ash, I know the last 24 hours has been hell for you, and I know that you really don't want to be here right now, but I really, _really_ need you to turn on the charm tonight and make those girls see in the KT's what we do."

"Don't worry about me Casey," Ashleigh said, sounding stronger than she had all day. "I've brought my A game tonight. I just might have to step it up a little. I better get inside though, before Miss Prissy Pants sees me talking to you two."

Before Ashleigh could get away, Cappie pulled her back and gave her a huge hug. "Thank you so much Ashleigh. This means so much to me," Cappie said.

"Don't sweat it," she replied as she left the alcove, "Anything for a friend."

Casey turned to Cappie and pulled him close to her in a tight embrace. "Cappie, please tell me you've reconsidered turning Omega Chi in. I don't think you have a choice anymore."

Cappie pulled away and looked into her eyes. He seemed to have composed himself again, and confident Cappie was smiling down at her. "Case, all this is is a little setback ," he told her. God he just seemed so _sure._ "But for you, I promise I won't rule it out."

"Thank you," she said giving him a small kiss on the lips. "I'm going to go in now, but you wait out here for a few minutes so it won't look sketchy." Cappie nodded.

Casey straightened herself up and walked back into the conference room. It was almost show time.

**Sorry for the delay guys. I'm going through some major writers block trying to finish the next chapter. Hopefully I'll have it finished and posted by tomorrow.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Phew.....sorry for the long delay guys. I had a heck of a time with this chapter, plus Christmas, but you know all the excuses. I know all the chapters after this one will be MUCH easier to write! Please let me know what you think. I'm still not so sure about this one.**

Cappie sat with a stony expression on his face as the sorority and fraternity presidents finished listening as the incident from a few nights ago was rehashed. How the Kappa Tau's stole Huck's golf cart and attempted to suspend it from the third floor of the campus parking deck, and how it fell and was totally crushed. They also heard about how it was going to cost the University five hundred dollars to replace it. "Oh, you forgot to mention the part about how the Omega Chi's helped us steal the golf cart, then bolted and called the cops," Cappie thought bitterly.

"Since this is a recognition hearing," Shane, the IFC Chief Justice went on, "I am now going to go over Kappa Tau's standings as far as University requirements are concerned." Catherine handed him a stack of papers which he placed on the podium in front of him. "Ok, let's see......average GPA is 2.15, which is .15 higher than the required 2.0 for fraternity membership. The All Fraternity average is 3.0. KT is third behind Lambda Sig and Omega Chi in athletics and ahhhh," Shane seemed to lose his place as he shuffled through the papers. He gave Catherine a look that asked, "Help me!"

She frowned and yanked the papers out of Shane's hand and glared at Cappie. "KT has not completed _any_ of the University required risk management programming, and hasn't turned in any philanthropy hour time cards, although I do see here that _several_ of your brothers have completed quite a few mandatory service hours this semester courtesy of the University Police. Finally, I see Kappa Tau is just coming off of two weeks probation for yet _another _prank where the IKI's and Omega Chi's homecoming float was rigged to soak most of our alumni in beer." Shane looked back at Catherine. She had really gone for the jugular.

"Thanks Catherine, I think that covers it," Shane said as he shook his head. "Cappie, as Kappa Tau president, you have the right of rebuttal. You get five minutes." He stepped aside from the podium as Cappie stood and made his way to the front of the room. His eyes locked with Casey's. She looked panic-stricken. This was so not good.

"Well, first I'd like to point out that the Kappa Tau's were wrongly accused in the Homecoming debacle. If you might remember," he said as he shot Catherine a glare, "That the IKI president recanted her complaint. She said she didn't see who did it, and that she lied when she accused us and ZBZ." Cappie started to feel more confident as he noticed some nods from the fraternity presidents. He made sure to completely bypass making any sort of eye contact with Evan, who was staring at him so hard, Cappie almost felt holes burning into his chest.

"Now about this prank," Cappie continued, "The Kappa Tau's realize that we might have gone too far this time, and let me make it very clear to you guys that the brothers responsible did not mean at all to cause that much damage. Seems they overestimated their own strength just a little too much." Good, that got a few muffled chuckles from the room. "The brothers in question have been dealt with by the University, very harshly might I add. I know we aren't the most overachieving house on campus or anything, but I really hope that you guys agree that we don't deserve to get kicked off for this."

"Wait a second," Shane said as he looked at Cappie from the paper he was reading. "It says here that three guys were caught and expelled?"

"Yeah, that's right," Cappie responded.

"Three guys pulled off hoisting a 600 pound golf cart three stories in the air?" Shane asked as he looked at Cappie. Cappie knew exactly where he was going with this line of questioning, and he didn't like it at all.

"As far as I know, yeah," Cappie replied.

"That just doesn't seem right," Shane said as he shook his head, "You said it yourself, you guys aren't exactly known for your physical prowess. In fact, I think this prank is a little too elaborate for one house to pull off by itself. You guys didn't have any help did you?"

Cappie's breath stopped in his chest. For one terrifying moment, Cappie and Evan locked eyes. From the look he was getting back from Evan, Cappie knew there was no way he was going to tell the truth now. Cappie's eyes shifted toward Casey who was staring at him with a pleading look. That look in her eyes _almost _convinced him. Cappie sucked in a deep breath and spat out his answer, "No."

"Are you sure," Shane asked.

"As sure as I'll ever be," Cappie said as he gave Evan one last glare.

"Alright," Shane said, "Anything else you feel we should consider?"

"Yeah actually," Cappie continued. "Think of it this way guys, if you vote to take away our recognition, our house goes empty. The University isn't going to want to keep it empty forever, with space being at such a premium. We all know that this last year's rush wasn't good enough by a long shot to support a new fraternity coming on to fill the space. The University is going to turn it into random student housing. How would you feel about outsiders living on the Row huh? And I'm sure there'll be a ton of noise complaints then, and after that, all the restrictions from last year come back, and who would want to be greek then? I know we all would hate to see that happen." After his last sentence, Cappie stepped out from behind the podium and took his seat.

"Ok then," Shane said resuming his place behind the podium. "If the house in question will please step out, we can being deliberations." Cappie got up to exit the room and as he did he snuck one more look at Casey. She caught his gaze and he saw her mouth, "I love you." He smiled and walked out the door.

"All right," Catherine said as she stood and made her way to the front of the table. "Sorority presidents will deliberate in this area here, and fraternities over there." As she said this, she motioned to the area around where each of the groups were already sitting. With her instruction, the room became abuzz with chair legs scraping the floor as the presidents of CRU's fraternities and sororities arranged their chairs so they could talk easier.

"Ok," Shane said as he made his way to the circle of chairs, "Before we vote, I'm going to ask one guy to give a pro, and another to give a con. If we need any further discussion, we'll do that, and then we'll vote."

"Alright guys, I'll give a pro," Evan began. The entire circle of boys stared at him in shock.

"Um Chambers, are you feeling ok?" Dustin the Lambda Sig president asked.

"Yeah, fine," Evan replied. "Look I know our houses don't exactly get along, but Cappie has a point." The other members of the circle looked at him in utter confusion.

"About what the University will do with the empty house?" Evan reminded them. "All our chapters are housed right now, and rush was down 15% this year. There is no way we'd get the kind of numbers we need to get a new house on campus. And he's right. The University _will_ turn it into random student housing. You think there's anti-greek sentiment on this campus now? Just wait. That will be _way_ worse for the greek system than anything the administration will put on us if we let the KT's stay. If we give them a good enough punishment, this should be the end of it."

"I don't think so," said Jason, the Psi Phi Pi president. "I heard from a very good source that the Board of Trustees is _this_ close to disbanding the greek system entirely. We have to come down hard on these guys for our own sake. Its either live with some random students, or not be greek at all."

"Oh come on Jason, you're exaggerating!" Evan retorted. "The University can't disband the greeks! The alumni would go ape shit and stop donating. Greek alumni are the biggest donors to the school. CRU can't afford to operate without us!"

"Think again," said Mark, the Pi Sigma president, "Lots of schools are disbanding their greek systems right now. And who's to say the house will go empty anyway?"

"Um, didn't I just say, this years rush was down 15%?" Evan asked.

"But the _girls_ rush was up 20%," Mark replied. "And we saw that this campus can support another sorority with the IKI's"

"The IKI's were a disaster," Evan said.

"That's true, but that's because they had no nationals behind them, and a raging bitch for a president," Mark laughed. "But seriously, another sorority could work, and damn I know national sororities can clean up even the grossest fraternity houses when they take them over."

All eyes were on Evan. He had nothing else to say, and he shrugged his shoulders to let them know he was finished. He hoped he had convinced at least someone as the ballots were handed out.

Things were just as heated for the girls. Catherine had suggested a Pro-Con-Con-Pro, but things had dissolved into utter chaos after the first girl spoke. Catherine was _definitely_ not a good VP-J, Casey had noted, but she'd kept quiet about it. In fact, she wasn't allowed to speak at all. Not that anyone would hear her anyway in this mess.

"Guys," Ashleigh tried to say. No one listened. Finally, she yelled. "GUYS!"

All attention was on her. "What are we even doing here? This is so stupid. We're about to kick off a whole fraternity for one prank?" she asked.

"I disagree Ashleigh," Catherine said with an air of self-righteousness. "The KT's have been accused of a serious violation against the University, and given their history of being total slackers........"

"Aren't you supposed to be impartial?" Ashleigh asked.

"No, you are right, and I apologize. All our emotions are a little on edge today. Please continue," Catherine said, clearly embarrassed.

"Ok, so they might have gone a little to far," Ashleigh said. "Can't we just punish them?"

"I don't think so," said Natalie, the Gamma Psi president. "The KT's haven't learned from any punishment before, and besides, they really don't contribute anything to the greek system anyway, and their house is a total eye sore."

"Of course they contribute!" Ashleigh cried. "Maybe not in a way that you can keep statistics on, but who is the one house that is always there when no one else is?" All she got was a bunch of blank stares.

"Ok, Tracey," Ashleigh said as she motioned to the Mu Gamma Sig president. "Who came to serenade you during Pledge Presents week when not even the Psi Phi Pi's would?"

"No, you're right, the KT's did," Tracey admitted. "But they were totally drunk. Besides, they've never invited us to anything. Not even the end of the world party and the entire campus was at that thing."

"When have the KT's ever had invitations to _anything_," Ashleigh replied. "You just show up to a KT party. Anyway, aren't all boys drunk when they serenade?" Tracey nodded in agreement.

"And Heather," Ashleigh added as she motioned to the Tri Pi president, "Didn't the KT's kindly give you guys a place for some of you to sleep when there was that gas leak in your kitchen last spring?"

"Yeah, but that's because they wanted to hook up," Heather said as she rolled her eyes. "Besides, the only hot guys in that house anyway are Cappie and Beaver, and now Cappie's taken, and Beaver is dumb as a box of rocks."

Ashleigh decided not to gratify that with a response. Beaver was actually a pretty nice guy. Plus he thought she was hot, which always made her blush a little. She didn't want to continue the conversation about Cappie either, as Casey looked like she was going to reach across as strangle Heather.

"What about the empty house then?" Ashleigh questioned. "Cappie was right about that. Who wants randoms on the Row?"

"Actually," Catherine chimed in, "I wasn't going to announce this until next semester, but we will be putting together an extension exploration committee in January." Now all eyes were on Catherine.

"The fact is, our rush numbers have been increasing exponentially over the last five years, and we saw with the IKI's this semester that the interest is there for a new sorority."

"But the IKI's failed miserably, and what sorority girl would want to live in a frat house?" Ashleigh chimed in.

"That's true, but they weren't national," Natalie retorted. "The IKI's imploded because of internal problems. A national sorority wouldn't let that happen. A national sorority would also be happy to fix up a fraternity house. They do it all the time. In fact, our newest Gamma Psi chapter is renting what used to be a fraternity house right now."

"Leave it to the Gamma Psi _bitches_ to screw everything up," thought Casey. She could tell by Ash's face that she felt the same way. And Ashleigh was doing so well.

"Ok, so what about what Shane said?" Ashleigh said. "Do you _really_ think the KT's were acting alone?"

"GO ASH!" Casey thought to herself.

"I mean, its possible," Heather said. "But Cappie denied it."

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. "Yes, but all we need is reasonable doubt here, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Actually, no," Natalie chimed in once again. "This isn't a court of law. Due process doesn't apply. See, it says so right here." As she spoke, she pointed at the judicial manual. Ashleigh's heart sank. She was out of ideas, and the room was silent for a moment.

"No other comments?" Catherine asked. She got no reply. "Well let's vote then, shall we?"

After five minutes, Catherine instructed Casey to collect the ballots and count them. Eight voted to strip the KT's of their recognition, two voted for alternative punishment. She could tell which vote was Ashleigh's, she used hearts to dot her i's. Casey felt like she was going to cry. She didn't yet know the guy's decision, but they had finished a good ten minutes before the girls had. She noticed Evan sitting there with a forlorn look on his face. "You fucking deserve it, bastard," she thought. She had had such high hopes that he would tell the truth. And Catherine. She couldn't believe how biased she'd been. It's true, both Catherine _and_ Evan were like Frannie, only eviler.

"Casey, could you please get the KT president?" Catherine asked. "We are ready to give the verdict."

She thought about saying no, but she would rather Cappie hear it first from her anyway. With a heavy heart, she made her way outside the doors.

"I heard a lot of girl screaming in there," Cappie laughed nervously as he stood from his chair. "Take it Catherine isn't a very good VP-J."

"No, she isn't, she's totally awful," Casey said as she embraced Cappie in a tight hug and rested her head on his chest. Tears began to fill her eyes as she looked back up at him. "I'm really sorry, Cap."

Cappie's heart sank. "That bad, huh?" he asked as he looked down at her.

"The girls voted to de-recognize you," she said gently. "I wish there was something more I could have done." She began to cry silently.

Cappie put a finger under her chin and pulled her face up to meet his. "Hey, its not your fault," he said as he wiped her tears away with his thumb. "And besides, we don't know how the guys voted yet, right?" She nodded and tried to pull herself together. "Let's go face the music," he said as they both entered the room.

Cappie felt every pair of eyes in the room staring at him as he took his seat. He looked up at the podium where Shane and Catherine were conversing, Casey sitting next to them looking miserable as ever. Finally Shane broke away and cleared his throat.

"Cappie," Shane began, "In a thirteen to one vote among the fraternities and a eight to two vote among the sororities, Panhellenic and IFC have both voted to strip Kappa Tau Gamma of University recognition. We will make our recommendation to Dean Bowman, who has two business days to make a final decision. I'm sorry. Everyone, you are free to go." Cappie sat there in shock. He was totally confused. He was so sure he'd win. So sure. He must be losing his touch. All he knew is that he wanted to find Casey and get the hell out of that building as soon as possible.

As the room began to clear out, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around to see Ashleigh standing there with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Cappie," she said. "I really, really tried. Those bitches just wouldn't listen." He pulled her into a hug.

"It's ok Ash, no hard feelings," Cappie told her. "I appreciate it." Casey came up to the two of them and silently put her arm around Cappie's waist.

"Damn," Cappie said with an arm around each girl as he cracked a smile, "I might just get my wish of a three way with the hottest two girls in ZBZ after all."

"Oh-my-God, gross!" Ashleigh yelled as she broke away from Cappie and Casey. "You are really sick, you know that." Casey couldn't speak she was laughing so hard, which then made Ashleigh laugh. "Still got it," Cappie thought to himself. Just then, he felt another tap on his shoulder. The smile on his face instantly melted away when he saw who it was.

"What part of 'I have nothing to say to you' did you not get?" Cappie asked Evan, his eyes narrowed.

"Wait," Evan said, grabbing hold of Cappie's arm before he could turn away. "Please Cappie, just hear me out!"

"Evan, you should really walk away now before something happens to you that you won't like," Cappie hissed as he jerked his arm away.

"I just wanted to apologize to you," Evan pleaded.

"You know what?" Cappie said, his voice rising. "I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear you, I don't want to see you, and I don't want to smell you again until you graduate."

"Cappie, just give me a minute," Evan said, practically groveling now.

"No," Cappie retorted as he turned around to rejoin Casey and Ashleigh. "You're dead to me Chambers. Got that? Dead." This time Cappie didn't bother to turn around to see the look on Evan's face. If he had, he would have seen Evan quietly retreat into the corner of the conference room with tears streaming down his face.

As the rag-tag band of three waited for the elevator, they each shared the same thought: Dean Bowman was the KT's last chance.


	11. Chapter 11

Evan nervously stepped up onto the front porch of the ZBZ house. He had been thrilled when he called Rebecca the other night to ask her to dinner tonight and she had accepted. He had been looking forward to this so much. He really needed it with the way the hearing had gone last night. He was fairly certain that the KT's were goners, and it was all his fault. Now he was looking forward to spending one drama free evening with a very pretty girl. He took in a deep breath as he rang the doorbell.

His heart sank a little when he saw it was Ashleigh that had opened the door. She gave him a disapproving stare. "Oh, you," she said dryly.

"And hello to you too Ashleigh," Evan replied with a nervous smile plastered on his face. God, he was really persona non grata around here, wasn't he?

"I'll get Rebecca for you," she said as she rolled her eyes and walked up to the staircase. "Rebecca! Visitor!" she screamed up the stairs and walked into the living room, leaving Evan standing awkwardly in the foyer. Evan's breath was nearly taken away as he saw Rebecca descend the staircase.

She was wearing a black sleeveless, jewel-necked Temperley mini-dress. The neckline was adorned with red and gold beads in an intricate design. To complete the outfit, she was wearing an elegant yet understated gold bracelet and black Manolo sling backs. On her arm she carried a small black clutch and a cashmere pashmina. She wore her hair half up, with her bangs swept across her forehead. The whole outfit was fancy enough for a nice romantic dinner, but not too fancy that she was overdressed. Evan thought she looked beautiful, and he couldn't wait to show her off at the restaurant.

"You look absolutely gorgeous, Miss Logan," Evan said with a smile as Rebecca reached him at the bottom of the stairs.

"You're not looking so bad yourself, Mr. Chambers," Rebecca replied with a small laugh. A huge grin spread across Evan's face as he held his arm out for her.

"Shall we?" he asked. Rebecca draped the pashmina over her shoulders and took Evan's arm as they walked through the front door.

"Oh," Rebecca stated as they made their way outside, "My car's parked around the side of the house." Evan had been very embarrassed to ask Rebecca if she wouldn't mind taking her car, since the restaurant was about five miles outside Cyprus. He knew he couldn't bring himself to ask any of the brothers to borrow their car. He had been relieved when Rebecca suggested it herself before he could even ask.

Rebecca hit the unlock button on her key fob and looked up at Evan. "Can I ask you a huge favor?" she asked sheepishly.

"Sure, what's up?" he replied.

"You wouldn't mind driving would you?" she asked as she held the keys in front of her. "It's just that I hate driving places I've never been before at night."

"Sure, no problem," Evan said as he took the keys from Rebecca and walked to the passenger side to hold the door open for her.

"Thanks," she said as she ducked inside. Soon they were both in the car, seat-belted in, and were off.

"So I think you'll really like this place," Evan said in an attempt to break the silence.

"Yeah I love Italian food," Rebecca replied. The place they were going was a little upscale Italian eatery that Evan had suggested called Il Porto. She had gone online before the date to read reviews. Everyone had great things to say about the place.

"Honestly, I was a little surprised that you said you liked Italian. I thought that sorority girls were allergic to carbs and cheese," Evan joked.

"Its ok, I'll just throw it up later," Rebecca said deadpan. Evan shot her a very strange look. "Kidding!" she laughed. "I'll sweat it out in yogalaties tomorrow."

Soon, they were at the restaurant, and Evan was lucky enough to find a spot close to the front door. He got out of the car and went around to open Rebecca's door for her. She stepped out and they made their way inside.

"Ah, Mr. Chambers," the hostess said as she looked up from her desk. "Your table is ready, right this way please!" Rebecca was impressed. Some Italian places had really cheesy decor. Not this place. It was very modern, with crisp white tablecloths that offset the dark wood of the trim. The hostess seated them at a quiet, secluded corner booth.

"So you've been here before I take it?" Rebecca asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Frannie liked this place, we came here a few times," Evan admitted. "I just fell in love with the food, though. Its so good, and they serve it family style, which I really like."

"Frannie did throw up her food after though, didn't she?" Rebecca laughed.

"Who knows," Evan groaned. "That whole thing was a huge mistake."

"Meh, you live and you learn," Rebecca replied. Just then, a waiter clad in a crisp black shirt and long black apron appeared to take their drink order. Evan ordered a bottle of Chianti and two glasses. Rebecca was very surprised when she didn't get carded.

"I told you they know me," Evan laughed. "I used to be a _very_ big tipper when I still had money." Rebecca stifled a giggle as she took a sip of the wine.

"So, what's good to eat here?" she asked.

"Well the Caesar salad is amazing," Evan began. "They make the dressing right at the table. Its real Caesar salad dressing, with the anchovies and everything."

"Sounds yum," Rebecca replied. "What else?"

"Well the veal marsala is awesome too, unless of course you have some moral objection to veal," Evan said as he cracked a small smile.

"Are you kidding?" Rebecca laughed, "I find all baby animals to be totally delicious. Why don't we get one of each and share? I know at most family style places they give you way too much food anyway."

"You're right about that," said Evan, "We'll probably leave here with leftovers." Soon the waiter was back to take their order. They were both very impressed with the table side salad preparation.

Rebecca took up a forkful of salad and looked at Evan, who still looked a bit sullen. "Are you doing ok?" she asked. "I mean, about last night and everything."

Evan rubbed the back of his neck. "Honestly, I was hoping to avoid that topic tonight," he admitted. "It sucks and I really just want to forget about it."

"For what its worth," Rebecca said sincerely, "I think you did the right thing by not saying anything about the Omega Chi's involvement."

"Really?" Evan asked, totally flabbergasted.

"Yeah really," Rebecca told him. "You can't change the past. The prank happened, whether it was right or wrong, I don't know, I'm not one to pass judgment. We all have to make tough choices, whether they seem like the right ones or not"

She could see that Evan was not understanding her. "What would turning yourselves in gotten you?" she asked gently. "I doubt seriously that Cappie would have forgiven you just like that. I've never met anyone else that holds grudges like Cappie. All you would have succeeded in doing is getting your house in big trouble and majorly alienating yourself from your brothers."

"Now that you put it like that, it makes sense," Evan said a little more brightly. "Thanks Rebecca." Just then the waiter returned with a large white serving platter adorned with three huge veal cutlets and two plates.

"Now that our food is here, we can enjoy dinner and not think about depressing things any more tonight," Rebecca smiled as she put one of the cutlets on her plate.

"You're right," said Evan, smiling. "No more depressing conversational topics. Scout's honor." As he spoke, Evan held up the boy scout hand sign.

"Uggg don't do that!" Rebecca groaned and laughed at the same time. "You know I got kicked out of the Brownies when I was in first grade?"

Evan started laughing hysterically. "Really?" he asked. "Cause I got kicked out of Cub Scouts in third grade. What did you do?"

"No, please, regale me with your story first," Rebecca said as she took a bite of veal. Evan was right, it was delicious.

"I might have set my neckerchief on fire during a camp out," Evan replied. "Inside my tent."

Now it was Rebecca's turn to laugh hysterically. "Pyro!" she cried.

"Ok, ok," Evan chuckled. "I'm sure yours is no better!"

"I got kicked out for stealing the troop leader's daughter's My Little Pony," Rebecca admitted, knowing she was about to get made fun of.

"Ok, klepto!" Evan laughed. "God we make quite the pair, don't we?"

"I know, I was such a bad kid," Rebecca mused. "No wonder the nanny used to drug me." Evan gave her a shocked look.

"When I was like four, I used to refuse to go to sleep at night," Rebecca began, "So the nanny used to slip me Children's Benedryl. It worked until my mom found out."

"O-k," Evan joked, "Child abuse much? I can't really talk though. My nanny used to dip my pacifier in bourbon when I was teething to shut me the hell up."

"Damaged from an early age," Rebecca sighed. "We might as well have grown up together."

"Hey now," Evan laughed. "That would make the fact we are on a date right now very, very gross."

Before they knew it, the food was gone. They both agreed they were way to stuffed for dessert, so Evan asked the waiter for the bill. When he returned with the check, Rebecca grabbed her clutch and began to take out one of her credit cards.

"Hey, no way!" Evan said as he motioned for her to stop. "I have this."

"I thought.........." Rebecca trailed off.

"I've been socking away a few shekels here and there," Evan said as he smiled. "I've been hoping to be on a meaningful date for a while now."

"Oh, I get it," Rebecca said with a darkened voice. "You were planning on bringing Casey here, weren't you?" She had caught Evan off guard, he couldn't respond.

"Evan, I'm sorry," she said as she began to stand from the table. "I'm not interested in getting into a relationship with someone who is trying to make Casey Cartwright jealous. I won't play second fiddle to her again. I did it once and trust me, once was enough."

"Rebecca, please wait," Evan said as he grabbed her hand. "Its true, I was holding out hope that I might have a chance with her again after she dumped Max." Rebecca rolled her eyes. He had to catch her attention quickly before she stormed off.

"See, the thing is, I realized over Thanksgiving that it wasn't Casey that I wanted. It was the _idea_ of Casey," he explained.

"That makes no sense Evan," Rebecca replied.

"Sure it does," he continued. "Casey was the first girl I was ever with that wasn't interested in 'Evan Chambers'. She was just interested in me, Evan. And she challenged me to be so much more than a spoiled rich kid. After the Frannie mess. I really had myself convinced that Casey was the only girl that I would ever have that with."

"Ok," Rebecca said, "but that does that have to do with us?"

"The night after the prank I realized the girl that I really wanted had been right under my nose for the last few months," Evan said as he started into her eyes. "The fact is Rebecca, that you were the only person I even thought of going to that night. You like me, Evan. You have been a better friend to me over these last few months than anyone can ask for. You have never judged me, not even once. Even _Casey_ did that."

"Yeah," Rebecca agreed, "She can get a bit judge-y"

"My point is, because of you, I now understand that I can have that meaningful relationship with someone else," Evan said, his voice softening, "And I want that person to be you. You just get me. Like no one else at CRU does. You're smart, you're beautiful. Who wouldn't want you?"

Rebecca felt her face turn five shades of red. No one had _ever_ said anything like that to her before. Never in a million years did she think that one day she would be hearing these words from a one night stand from a year and a half ago. Her head was swimming. How did you respond to something like that? Evan paid the bill and extended his arm again. "Ready?" he asked.

"Thanks," she replied quietly. Once they were back in the car, Evan surprised her again by gently taking her hand in his. He never let her hand go the entire drive back.

Once they turned on to Chancellor Street, otherwise known as Greek Row, Evan pulled to the side and put the car in park. "Um, Evan, I know you haven't driven on Greek Row in a while, but the ZBZ house is two blocks down." Rebecca said playfully.

Evan looked up at her, a serious look on his face. "Rebecca, before we get back, I just wanted to tell you that I think its best that I drop you and this fine piece of German engineering off at the ZBZ house and head home."

"Oh," said Rebecca as she looked away. She was seriously disappointed now. Maybe he had realized that he _did_ still want Casey.

"No, no, its not like that. I would like nothing more than to invite you over for a few after dinner drinks," Evan began softly as he took her hand once again. "Its just that I _really_ like you, and I really don't want to screw this up. If it's ok with you, I'd like to take things slow."

Rebecca was blushing again. This was the first time that a guy had ever thought enough of her to suggest taking it slow. She pinched herself to see if she was dreaming. "Slow," she mulled it over. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Good," Evan said as he put the car back in drive and pulled into the ZBZ parking lot. As they walked to the front door of the house, Rebecca draped her arms around Evan's neck and gave him a huge hug. Neither of them wanted the embrace to end.

Rebecca pulled away from Evan slightly with a mischievous look in her eye. "Do I at least get a kiss goodnight?" she asked. Evan needed no further prodding. He bent down and gave Rebecca a gentle kiss. She deepened it and before they knew it, their hands were in each other's hair, roaming each other's bodies, and as they kissed, Rebecca felt an electric energy she had never felt kissing someone else.

Evan reluctantly pulled away first. "If I don't get out of here now," he said with a huge smile on his face, "I might change my mind about taking things slow."

"Ok then," Rebecca replied. "Thank you for tonight Evan. It was great."

"No, thank you," he said as he lifted her hand and planted a gentle kiss on it. "You have my number, please call me over break."

"I will," she promised as she opened the front door.

"Goodnight Rebecca," Evan said as stepped off the porch.

"Goodnight," she said as she stepped inside. The first floor of the house was empty. Most girls were either in their rooms or the library studying. Rebecca quietly climbed the stairs to her room. She felt like she was going to explode she had so much giddy energy. As she flopped down on her bed in triumph, she realized she was falling very hard for Evan Chambers.

**So Evan and Rebecca, totally awwwww. I know you guys are probably jonesing for more C/C, don't worry, its a coming!**


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